THE Snowy Mountains in the past decade has continued to increase its visitation and credit should be given to all the operators who host events. Thredbo have a host of events on their annual calendar and Lake Crackenback Resort is a popular event destination.
The In2Adventure team of Robyn and Simon Lazenby will host the 10th anniversary of their Snowies Multisport Festival at Lake Crackenback Resort in February. It's event operations like In2Adventure that have helped establish the Snowy Mountains area as a destination for events.
Regular contestants will attest to the enthusiasm of the pair, and their team of workers, with Robyn and Simon always going the extra mile to ensure their events run smooth and are top class.
Over this time the event has grown consistently with an average year on year growth of 21.4% and significant 459% overall growth in participants and visitors. Competitors travel from throughout Australia and overseas, such is the diversity of their reach.
Even with the recent impacts of bushfires and COVID–19 the festival has consistently met and exceeded their key performance indicators while generating over $15.7 million for the local visitor economy as well as providing social and wellbeing benefits to the local community and businesses.
Simon said when they were first invited to visit the area by the then manager of Lake Crackenback Resort, Scott O'Neill, they arrived in summer and could not believe that in such a beautiful place that there were virtually no visitors.
"At the time the community expressed a desire to encourage more summer visitation to compliment the busy snow season, and we quipped, wouldn't it be amazing if we could showcase the adventure opportunities in the Snowies at a sports festival and then see just as many visitors with mountain bikes on their roof racks in summer as there are skiers in Winter," said Simon.
"Well, fast forward 11 years and in 2022 we arrived in late January and this is just what we witnessed," said Robyn Lazenby.
"It's hard to believe that from the very humble beginnings of the festival that this year we will welcome in excess of 2,800 summer visitors to the region throughout February."
With the diverse nature of the events, The Snowies MultiSport Festival appeals to a wide demographic of sports enthusiasts including mountain bikers, trail runners and triathletes and offers a wide range of courses, with distances to suit all ages and abilities.
The event also hosts rounds of two national series including Trail Run Australia and TreX Cross Triathlon. The benefit of being a series is In2Adventure also assist with promoting the Snowy Mountains to all their entrants in every other venue they visit.
The Snowies MTB Festival in 2023 has been appointed an MTBA National Cup Event, another plus for our region to spread the word further that the Snowy Mountains is a beacon for mountain biking enthusiasts.
During the ten years the festival has developed and grown based on feedback from the participating athletes. It has expanded from two days originally to where it is now as a 6–day festival hosted throughout the month of February.
"The festival has hosted numerous Australian Championship and Oceania Championship events and in 2016 we were so proud to bring the ITU World Championships to the region. We have launched the Snowies MTB Festival, as well as expanding Trail Run Australia to a 2–day festival with an iconic 70k Ultra event," said Robyn Lazenby.
"From the first morning we arrived, the Snowy Mountains has very much felt like home and the people here are like family to us. Working with Lake Crackenback Resort and the local community and businesses has been such a pleasure and we always look forward to February each year, as do the many athletes who have discovered the never–ending summer adventure opportunities here."
"It's always so cool to see athletes back visiting the region many times over after having discovered this amazing location at the Snowies MultiSport Festival."